Category: Investing

  • Lower inflation, lower Social Security raise

    The Social Security Administration says beneficiaries will get a raise of 3.2% beginning in January. […]

  • 2023 Investment Outlook Seminar Quiz

    Test your awareness of the 2023 Investment Outlook Seminar. Take a 10-question multiple-choice quiz. You have nothing to lose, and the answers include links to further resources. […]

  • Skating through the latest uncertainty

    By Kyle Tetting Amid strong returns through July, investors have finally felt weakness in the past couple of months as the looming shutdown returned uncertainty to the economic outlook. Taking a pause in the run-up is healthy, allowing investors to reassess positioning. But it also challenges investors who benefitted from heavier equity exposure earlier in…

  • How to respond to the calm of summer

    By Kyle Tetting The summer of 2022 may have conditioned investors to expect more volatility. Absent the shocking inflation numbers of last June, it’s difficult to match the market movements we saw a year ago. But it’s also clear that the economic landscape now appears much less uncertain. […]

  • Positive signs amid “wall of worry”

    By Kyle Tetting It’s hard to argue with the year-to-date success of the vast majority of investment categories. As I write this on April 26, broad measures of stocks like the S&P 500 had gained more than 6% with only a few trading days left in April. Similarly, less volatile measures like bonds have added…

  • Seeing blue sky through cloudy forecasts

    By Kyle Tetting Especially with the unknown timing and magnitude of the Federal Reserve’s remaining steps to fight inflation, long-term optimism can get overlooked. […]

  • Finding a better place for our cash

    By Joel Dresang We let too much cash build up in our checking account, and it was costing us money. […]

  • Seeing blue sky through cloudy forecasts

    By Kyle Tetting There’s a tendency in investing to speak about expectations for returns. Projections and forecasts are useful and necessary, especially as we try to plan for the future. However, those same tools are fraught with challenges. For starters, the crystal ball is always a little cloudy. Especially with the unknown timing and magnitude…

  • Brinkmanship challenges investor resolve

    By Kyle Tetting We’ve been through this before. In July of 2011, Bob Landaas shared his thoughts on Congress’s hesitation to raise the debt ceiling. As Bob commented then, “My respect for politicians continues to sink by the day.” In simple terms, the debt ceiling is a statutory limit on the amount the United States…

  • Investor upsides as interest rates rise

    As interest rates have been rising, investors have seen the values of their bond holdings shrink. In a MONEY TALK VIDEO, Kendall Bauer points out some of the upsides of the rising rate environment. He spoke with Kyle Tetting as part of the 2022 Investment Outlook Video. […]